Zenit Beat Shanghai Shenhua on Penalties in China
Zenit won 4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw in Shanghai, their first match in China since 1955, following a new cooperation deal between the clubs.
Football national side
China
National team · China
«The Dragon Team»
57
Matches
18
wins
12
draws
27
losses
65–81
Goals
−16
Difference
1.1
Scored per game
Form
L
31 Mar · Home Cameroon · 0:2
W
5 Jun · Away Singapore · 2:1
D
9 Jun · Home Thailand · 0:0
W
24 Sep · Home Maldives · 3:0
L
27 Sep · Home New Zealand · 0:3
L
2 Oct · Home Palestine · 0:5
Hao Haidong scored somewhere between 37 and 41 goals in the red shirt. The team he played for traces its administration back to a football association first set up in 1924, though FIFA counts its membership from 1931, and the badge carries the name "The Dragon Team." What that side has never had is a settled home: Beijing's Workers' Stadium served as its ground for years before it was torn down and rebuilt in 2020, and qualifying matches since have moved through Tianjin, Shenzhen and Shenyang rather than returning to a single address.
The one World Cup appearance came in 2002: three matches, three defeats, no goals scored, a last-place finish in the group. The Asian Cup has come closer to delivering something — runner-up finishes in 1984 and again in 2004, the second of those on home soil, ending in a 3-1 final defeat to Japan.
Branko Ivanković took charge and was dismissed in June 2025, with Dejan Đurđević stepping in as interim.
Latest results
Fixtures and results| 6 Oct | Friendlies |
Tajikistan
H
|
||
| 2 Oct | Friendlies |
Palestine
H
|
0:5 | L |
| 2 Oct | Friendlies |
Turkmenistan
H
|
||
| 27 Sep | Friendlies |
New Zealand
H
|
0:3 | L |
| 24 Sep | Friendlies |
Maldives
H
|
3:0 | W |
| 9 Jun | Friendlies |
Thailand
H
|
0:0 | D |
Standing
Asian CupGroup stage · Group A
| # | Team | M | W | D | L | Goals | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Qatar
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5:0 | 9 |
| 2 |
Tajikistan
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2:2 | 4 |
| 3 |
 China
|
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0:1 | 2 |
| 4 |
 Lebanon
|
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1:5 | 1 |
Team statistics
matches counted in total: 57
57
Matches
18
wins
12
draws
27
losses
65–81
Goals
−16
Difference
1.1
Scored per game
wins
draws
losses
scored — above the line
conceded — below the line
| Metric | Total | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | 57 | 34 | 23 |
| Scored | 65 | 44 | 21 |
| Conceded | 81 | 41 | 40 |
| Scored per game | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Conceded per game | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| Difference | −16 | +3 | −19 |
Key players
by appearances over the last yearSquad of China
by appearances over the last year| Number | Player | Position | Age | Matches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | |
 Wei Shihao |
Forward | 31 | 4 |
| 7 | |
 Wenneng Xie |
Midfielder | 25 | 4 |
| 19 | |
 Yang Liu |
Defender | 31 | 4 |
| 14 | |
 Jiahui Huang |
Midfielder | 26 | 4 |
| 11 |  Wai-tsun Dai |
Midfielder | 4 | ||
| 5 | |
 Zhen Wei |
Defender | 29 | 4 |
| 6 |  Shangyuan Wang |
Midfielder | 4 | ||
| 1 | |
 Junling Yan |
Goalkeeper | 35 | 4 |
| 12 | |
 Liu Dianzuo |
Goalkeeper | 36 | 4 |
| 17 | |
 Bunyamin Abdusalam |
Forward | 18 | 3 |
| 8 | |
 Gao Tianyi |
Midfielder | 28 | 3 |
| 4 | |
 Zhunyi Gao |
Defender | 31 | 3 |
| 29 | |
 Chen Pu |
Midfielder | 29 | 3 |
| 30 | |
 Yan Bingliang |
Goalkeeper | 26 | 3 |
| 2 |  Tyias Charles Browning |
Defender | 32 | 3 | |
| 24 |  A. Zhang |
Defender | 3 | ||
| 23 | |
 Yihao Zhong |
Forward | 30 | 3 |
| 3 | |
 Gengrui Wang |
Defender | 18 | 3 |
| 15 | |
 Mingyang Yang |
Midfielder | 31 | 3 |
| 21 | |
 Yang Li |
Defender | 29 | 3 |
| 9 | |
 Ziming Wang |
Forward | 30 | 3 |
| 20 |  Qianglong Tao |
Forward | 3 | ||
| 25 | |
 Yang Mingrui |
Midfielder | 19 | 3 |
| 18 | |
 Pengfei Han |
Defender | 33 | 3 |
| 13 |  Huang Shenghao |
Midfielder | 2 | ||
| 22 |  Cheng Jin |
Midfielder | 2 | ||
| 26 | |
 Du Yuezhen |
Forward | 21 | 2 |
| 27 |  Songyuan Zhao |
Forward | 1 | ||
| 5 | |
 Chenjie Zhu |
Defender | 26 | 1 |
| 9 |  Yuning Zhang |
Forward | 1 | ||
| 8 |  Sérgio Antônio Soler de Oliveira Júnior |
Midfielder | 1 | ||
| 24 | |
 Zhu Pengyu |
Forward | 21 | 1 |
| 4 |  Liu Haofan |
Defender | 1 | ||
| 20 |  Wang Yudong |
Forward | 1 | ||
| 3 | |
 Weize Mao |
Midfielder | 21 | 1 |
| 27 | |
 Baihelama Abuduwaili |
Forward | 23 | 1 |
| 11 |  Lin Liangming |
Midfielder | 1 | ||
| 16 | |
 Hao Li |
Goalkeeper | 22 | 1 |
| 7 | |
 Wu Lei |
Forward | 34 | 1 |
| 21 | |
 Si Yang |
Defender | 21 | 1 |
Fixtures of China
-
6 Oct
Tajikistan
H
-
2 Oct
Palestine
H
0:5
L
-
2 Oct
Turkmenistan
H
-
27 Sep
New Zealand
H
0:3
L
-
24 Sep
Maldives
H
3:0
W
-
9 Jun
Thailand
H
0:0
D
-
5 Jun
Singapore
A
2:1
W
-
31 Mar
Cameroon
H
0:2
L
Honours of China
- EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2005, 2010 2
- AFC Asian Cup 1984, 2004 2
- EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2013, 2015 2
- EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2003, 2008, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025 6
Team news
Mostovoi Says Slutsky's Trophies Built on Gazzayev's Legacy
Alexander Mostovoi blasted Leonid Slutsky's coaching record, claiming his CSKA titles relied on Valeri Gazzayev's squad, and doubted Slutsky and Murad Musayev's footballing credentials.